warhorse1700

Hello everyone, About a year and a half ago I got some great info from you all on a 1916 Singer 45k52 that I had picked up. That machine is working very well sewing heavy belts, holsters, knife sheaths, and small accessory bags. I love the 45k but no one makes accessories for 100 year old machines. So now I'm looking for something a little more modern and lighter weight for sewing lighter and softer leathers. I was thinking about a 206 RB but, while browsing online I found a Consew 339 RB-1. It's a 2 needle machine. Questions: 1. Can a 2 needle machine be used with just 1 needle at a time? 2. Can It sew lighter, softer leathers such as, 2oz upholstery or garment, without skipping stitches. 3. How much can it sew through/handle? For example, 2 layers of 2oz upholstery with nylon webbing sandwiched between them? How about 1 or 2 layers of 6oz veg? 4. Is there anything to watch out for with a 2 needle machine? Is it much different than a single needle? I appreciate all of the advice I got last time. It was a huge help. Hopefully someone has some good info for me on this one too.

Yes, that makes sense that it would be attached to the presser bar and not the needle bar. Thanks for the link to the parts company. I'm sure it will come in handy in the future.

Wow, Evo160K! Yours even has the wax pot on top! I'd like to find one of those for my machine just for show. For the tension release, is that the top end of the needle bar that It's attached to? Mine doesn't come that far up. In fact when in the down position, it's below the surface of the housing and when up only extends 3/4" out of the top.

Sorry I haven't posted recently. It's been a busy week. I did get to practice with it a little and am getting better at keeping my lines straight. It was pulling the bottom thread up through the top no matter how loose I had the top tension. I adjusted the bobbin case tension screw all the way in but it still pulled the bottom thread up. I took the screw out and removed that tension plate and could see that the thread has worn a groove so it wasn't going to give me enough tension. I found a new assembly on ebay for $35 with 5 bobbins so I'm going to give that one a try. In the meantime while I'm waiting for the new one, I bent the tension plate a little and I'm able to get good bottom tension and my stitches look a lot better now.

Jimi, Thank you for the parts list and links! I couldn't find that stuff anywhere. I finally got ahold of the local repair guy. He came out this afternoon and found what was wrong. Are you ready...? THE NEEDLE WAS IN BACKWARDS! I had seen the warning about the needle being backwards in another thread so I was already suspecting this might be the problem. I could have fixed it myself but I wanted to be sure that the whole machine was ready to go so I'm happy that I had the repair guy look at it and confirm it's readiness. So far I've been practicing on scrap pieces of veg and latigo and it zips right through them without missing a stitch. Two 9/10oz layers of latigo cause noticeably more drag but i'm barely giving it any pressure on the clutch and I still have to use my hand as break on the fly wheel so it's really not that much of a strain. Overall I think I'm going to be quite happy with this machine. Thanks for all the advice and information, Jimi and Constabulary! I just put a short 49 second video up on YouTube.

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Wow! Thanks for the pics and info jimi and Constabulary. I'm going to do more studying of the parts list and comparing to my machine tomorrow evening. In the meantime here's a few more closeups of the parts that jimi requested. I'm trying to keep them as large and clear as possible.

Thanks for responding! WOW! This thing realy is 100 years old? I looked it up but didn't believe it. You are correct. I do not have the wax heating unit. I probably should have known that it is not a standard 45K since I couldn't find any information on the 52 subclass, anywhere. I paid $575 for it. I've been searching for months for a decent, used, cylinder bed machine but hadn't found anything in my area until this one. After a bit of research, I found that people were generally quite happy with their 45Ks so I decided to jump on it. It does work so I don't feel like I made a bad choice, just maybe not the best one. Thanks for the info on model and the tension adjustments. I'll play with those later tonight. No, I don't think that they are present, or at least, not complete. I would love to see a pic of what it's supposed to look like. Thanks again for all of the information!

Sorry, I sized the pics too small to get any detail. These should be better for zooming in a bit.

Hi Everyone, I've been lurking around for a few years now but haven't asked any questions because I've always been able to find a thread with the information I'm looking for. I have found a few threads discussing Singer 45Ks but none specifically about the 45K52. I've been making belts, wallets, gun holsters, card cases, knife sheaths and dog accessories for about 5 years. I feel like it's time to turn my hobby into a business, which is why I bought this machine I picked the machine up over the weekend. The guy who was selling it bought it to fix horse blankets and harnesses but ended up with some health problems and can't operate the machine anymore. I was able to thread it, based on the 45K manual that found on the forum, and run the machine before I bought it. It's obviously an old machine but in great shape and had been recently re-built and tuned by a professional Industrial sewing machine repair man. People in the area swear by this repair man but so far I haven't gotten any response to my phone calls. I'm pretty sure, from my reading, that it should be a decent machine for belts, dog harnesses and leashes, and maybe knife sheaths and gun holsters too. My questions are: Do I actually have it threaded correctly? Depending on the leather I'm putting through it, it sometimes pulls the knots through the bottom or top of the leather. Is this a tension problem? It will only make an actual stitch at the slowest crawl. If it picks up any speed the thread breaks. Could this be a tension problem or something else? How do I set the tension? After looking through the manual that I found here, and then inspecting my machine, I think I'm missing some features that other 45Ks have such as: reverse and adjustable stitch length. Does this machine really not have an adjustment for stitch length? What is the wheel to the lower right, near the belt? Is it a bobbin winder? Finally: what kind of foot does it have and should I get something different? Thanks for all of the information that I have picked up here over the past few years. I hope you all can help me out with some of these questions.